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19U STATEMENT 

Copy 1 

OF 

HON. ROBERT N. PAGE 

A KKl'RKSENTATIVK FROM NORTH CAROLINA 
BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 



HOUSE^OF REPRESENTATIVES 



JANUARY 3. 1913 



WASIIIXOTON 

(ioVJ-.KNMKNT PRINTING OFFICE 

1913 






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APR 2 il9U 



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Committee ox Agriculture, 

House of Representatives, 

January 3, 1913. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT N. PAGE, A REPRESENTATIVE 
FROM NORTH CAROLINA, ON FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. 

Mr. Page. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the 
chairman said that this was a matter of importance to me. It abso- 
lutely is of no im})ortance to me personally, but I think is important 
to the country as a whole; and I broach the subject here through the 
courtesy of this committee. 

Many of you know as indivicUnils that for several years, as a Mem- 
ber of the House of Re])resentatives, I opposed on the floor of the 
House the a])])ro])riatioii made for the free distribution of ordinary 
seeds; but I wanted to make an appeal to the committee in the first 
instance to discontinue this appropriation. Last year, after the 
effort that I made on the floor of the House to eliminate this appTo- 
priation, I had resolutions forwarded to me as an incHvidual, which I 
could ])roduce — if I had had time, after receiving the notice of the 
chairman, I would have produced them and brought them here — 
from every farmers' organization in the United States commending 
the amendment that I oflered, and the position that I had taken, and 
saying in efl'cct tliat this was a waste of the ])ublic money; that the 
agriculturists of this country cared nothing for thes(> seeds; they did 
not use them. I had half a hundred from local organizations not in 
my own district, but hi districts of various gentlemen, some of them 
them serving on this committee; from local farmers' organizations 
indorsing the position I had taken for the elimination of this appro- 
priation. I have for 10 years, since I have been in Congress, voted 
against this pro])Osition uniformly; and in my own district I do not 
think there is a single man but commends the j)osition I have taken, 
and is against this a|)i)n)|)riati()n. 

I have been chargecl at tunes, by Members of the House and others, 
witii advocating tlie discontinuance of this appr()))riation in the inter- 
est of the se(Hl people of this country. I (lo not know, and I have 
never had a communication from any man who sold .<~oi^i\ in the Unit(^d 
States of America; and the oidy })eo])lo to whom any motive personjU 
to tiiemselves might be imj)uted are tlie (Mlilors of agricultural papers. 
I can see very cleai'ly that they might have a ])ersonal interest in the 
opposition because of the fact that they hav.> a certain iiicom<i from 
tlio advert i-;ing of seed i)roducers in this country. They idmost as a 
whole o]jpos(^ this appropriation, ^^ost of them, from Virgirua to 
Texas, editorially have connnended the effort that I have f(>.ebly made 
to discontinue this appropriation. 

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Aiid personal observation — one of the reasons for my opposition is 
the wortlik^ssness, practically, of these seed, wiiich I think can be 
demonstrat(Hl to any (gentleman who will take the trouble to make a 
little incjuiry. Personal observation, or, rather, concurrence, was 
brou*j;ht to my attention within the last few months by a gentleman 
who hap])ens'to live in my own district. A very large industry is 
carried on in certain sections of this country in the cultivation and 
sale of tlie Rocky Ford cantaloupe. It is a native of the high alti- 
tudes of Colorado and grows to greater perfection there tlian 
elsewliere. 

I hapi)cnod to have an enter])rising constituent who owns a farm 
in Colorado, on which he raises the Kocky Ford seed, lie is an au- 
thority in this country on the cultivation and the raising of this par- 
ticular fruit. I have his word that the Government contract let for 
the Rocky P^ord seed which the Department of Agricnltnre was 
going to distribute was given to a firm of J(^ws in the State of Colorado, 
whose name I do not recall at the present time, on a competitive-bid 
price. That he himself saw the employees of these people, who had 
been the successful bidders to the Government, going into the canta- 
Toupe fields of Colorado from which the saleable perfect fruit had been 
gathered and sold, taking the refuse tlnit the farmer had left, to 
secure the seed that they sold the Government under the contract 
that they took; and this happened last year. He says they are 
absolutely worthless, and I believe he knows what he is talking about; 
and I think, gentlemen, that while I am in thorcnigh sympathy with 
all the work that has been done through the Dej^artment of Agricul- 
ture antl, by the activities and help of this committee, in anything 
that extends to the agricultural classes of this country real helj) — I 
am in sympathy with all that. 

But, on the other hand, personally and in the interest of the people 
of the country, I do not thmk we are warranted, that this committee 
is warranted, or that Congress is warranted, in appropriating a dollar 
of money for a useless purpose; and my thorough conviction is 
that this sum, amounting practically to 1.300,000, that is expended 
for the purchase and distribution of ordinary garden seeds, is a 
waste of that much of the tax money of the people; and I do not 
tkink this committee or the House of Repi-esentatives is war- 
ranted in spending that money; and I wanted merely to make my 
protest here and say to the gentlemen that I felt that the people 
that are to be consulted — the people who are supposed to use these 
seeds — do not want them. And I felt assured that if I could by 
any means convince you of that fact this appropriation would bt 
eliminated. I have no hope of convincing my good friend fron 
Mississij)pi. I know his views on this matter; he has as strong, 
views on one side as I have on the other, and possibly stronger; 
but I think he is mistaken about the service that he is rendering 
his pet)ple by the distribution of these ordinary seeds. I am much 
obliged to you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Candler. Just a moment, Mr. Page. 

Mr. Page. Oh, I would be glad to submit, if the committee will 
allow me, at some time in the future some of the testimonials and 
editorials and resolutions that have been passed by various farmers 
organizations, etc., and placed in my hands in opposition to this 
appropriation. 



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Mr. C.\XDi.ER. Mr. Page, does not the record in Congress show that 
you not only have not been able to convince the gentleman from Mis- 
sissi])]M. but that you have failed absolutely to convince a very large 
majority of the membership of the House? 

Mr. Page. Xo: I think not. If my friend will allow me, I .should 
say, not that T have failed to convince other Meml)ers of Congress, 
but that the natural eloquence of the gentleman from Mississippi has 
overcome any argument that I have been able to place before other 
Members of Congress — if he will allow me to put it that way; and the 
general sup])osition on the part of a great many of us that this ])ar- 
ticular distribution is a ])ersonal asset for votes in our districts. And 
do not ]>eople see it that way, and do they not say it ( I am very much 
obliged to you, gentlemen. 



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